Zehra Nigah is a prominent poet, one of the first two women poets to have achieved prominence in the 1950s in a predominantly male realm at that time. Besides her writing, she also became known for her spellbinding rendition in mushairas. She has published two books of verse titled Shaam ka Pehla Tara and Waraq. She has also been awarded the Pride of Performance for her contribution to literature.

Zehra Nigah writes both the ghazal and the nazm with the same involvement. The spontaneous use of everyday phrases and the colloquial idiom complement her direct and narrative style of writing, giving it a popular appeal that becomes even more pronounced in oral rendition. She has dealt with personal, social and gender themes very effectively in this manner.

Justice

(for the blind girl who was sentenced under ‘Hudood’)

انصاف

(اُس اندھی لڑکی کے نام جسے حدود میں سزا سنائ گئ تھی)

Imprisoned,I am also freein this little room;the sun moves acrossa window in the ceilingbefore it sets;rays of light,sparingly enter;on the path they make,I walk home;my father, even now,returningfrom the city,brings along for me,a shawl, a comb, bangles and kohl,and so much more;both my brothers,study in the mosque,as they did;God’s edictsthey read, memorise;my sister puts away in a basket,my share of bread;feeds it to the sparrowsat dawn;my mother is kind of crazy,gathering stonesor talking to sparrowsas they pick the grain;she says:when the sparrows will fathom the truth,in their beaks and clawsthey would clutch the stones;then would rage a stormto ravage law-givers,tear down the pulpits;justice He would deliver Himself,the Supreme Lord,the same for one and all,the revered, the exalted.